Vlad The Impaler

The most brutal killer in history: Vlad The Impaler

Vlad The Impaler is a legendary figure in history, famous for his torturing and punishment techniques. It is said that he had impailed more than 30,000 people and according to some historians he killed around 100,000 people. But more than how many people Vlad Dracula killed, how he killed them is blood curdling. Dracula means ‘Son of Devil’ in Romanian and maybe he did more evil things in his lifetime more than Devil himself.

Who is Vlad Dracula?

Vlad Dracula , whose life story gave inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula, was the Prince of Wallachia (southern Romania). When his country was threatened with Ottoman invasion, his father had to swear loyalty to sultan. According to Ottoman policy, local leaders were assigned for the government of the invaded territories. And Vlad Dracula was planned to be the ruler of the territory in the future. With their father’s consent, Vlad Dracula and his sister were taken to the Ottoman palace for education and training.

Vlad The Impaler

They had the same education as other noble families’ children. Sultan Murad II was hoping that this intelligent boy, Vlad Dracula would govern his land as a loyal vassal of Ottoman Empire. Sultan’s son Sultan Mehmed The Conqueror and Vlad Dracula had been very close friends and blood brothers. After they grew up and learnt how to rule a country, Vlad Dracula was sent back to rule his country on behalf of Ottoman Empire. In the meantime, Sultan Mehmed had been the Ottoman Emperor when his father died and conquered Constantinople. Vlad Dracula swore his loyalty to the new capital city, Istanbul, admiring the Sultan’s success. In 1456, he was put on the throne in Wallachia by the Sultan.

At the beginning, he was ruling his country with great success and loyalty to Ottoman Empire. However, he was under pressure of nationalists. They wanted Vlad Dracula to declare the independence of the country. He was having a conflict between loyalty to his blood brother Sultan Mehmed and being an independent king of Wallachia.

In such a difficult position, Vlad Dracula, the intelligent and loyal leader started to change. He became an alcoholic and started torturing to people. He totally lost his sense of justice and obviously his mind. The peaceful atmosphere in Wallachia turned into a lunacy and total fear.

Vlad The Impaler and Ottoman Envoys

Sultan Mehmed The Conqueror did not want to believe in his blood brother’s brutal executions. Therefore he sent his envoys to learn what was happening there. Vlad Dracula asked the envoys to lean in his presence but they refused because their caps that represent the Ottoman Empire might have fell down. So, the psychopath Vlad Dracula nailed their caps to their heads.

Sultan Mehmed sent him a letter, giving a chance and warning his blood brother to swear his loyalty to Empire once more. But Vlad Dracula did not acknowledge his authority. In response to this, Sultan Mehmed The Conqueror went to Wallachia with his troops and cornered him in Poenari Castle. The castle was on a steep hill and impossible to conquer. Sultan Mehmed camped there waiting for Vlad to subdue. Vlad Dracula resisted for months in the castle but his wife threw herself from the bastion. It was risky for the Sultan to be away from the capital city this long. He left some of the troops there and returned back. Before he left, he assigned a new and loyal voivode, Vlad’s younger brother Radu The Handsome.

Monastery of Snagov - Grave of Vlad Dracula

Vlad Dracula was able to flee to Hungary with the help of some Romanian peasants. He stayed imprisoned in Hungary for 14 years and in 1475, he was recognized as the prince of Wallachia once more. However, this time he was killed in Transylvania forests by the Voivode Radu. With the order of Ottomans, his head was sent to the palace and displayed on a stake. His body without his head was burried at Monastry of Snagov in Bucharest.

Vlad The Impaler

Vlad Dracula’s Brutal Punishment Techniques:

Vlad Dracula was a real tyrant and sadist. Impalement was his favorite punishment technique. Thousands of men were murdered by impalement in Transylvania. Sharpened stakes were driven from the end of the spinal cord to the back of the neck without damaging the vital organs. Therefore, the victims were not dying immediately but living for days. Vlad Dracula was having feasts while watching impaled people. This decoration of miserable people was giving him a sadistic pleasure.

He also liked drinking blood and his lust for blood made him a source of inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula character.

Son of Devil, Dracula also liked to impale little babies and their mothers were forced to eat their flesh. He was doing the same to messengers of the other countries. He was impaling the messengers and when new messengers were sent to look for the previous ones, he was serving their flesh. Another punishment for women with babies was cutting their breasts and their babies’ heads and then nailing the baby heads in place of the breasts.

Bran Castle - Dracula's Castle

Another torture of Vlad Dracula was skinning the soles of feet, covering them with salt and then watching a goat licking the salt from the soles of their feet.

Poenari Castle in Brasov

Once, he organized a great feast and invited all the beggars and poor people in the city. They were served delicious food and given new clothes. Everybody enjoyed the feast. Suddenly, they saw flames around them and burned in a terrible way. This was only another sadistic plan of Vlad Dracul to get rid of them.

Vlad Dracula statue in Sighisoara

The other torture and punishment techniques were cutting limbs and organs, burning, roasting, hanging, boiling and blinding.

[ad#downcont]Today, Dracula Tours to Transylvania draw interest of many people. The tourists visit the house he was born, Poenari Castle and Bran Castle in Romania, known as Dracula’s Castle although Vlad Dracula never lived in and his grave in the Monastry of Snagov.

In Romania, Vlad Dracula is considered as a national hero and a fair leader who resisted Ottoman invasion in spite of thousands of murders in sadistic ways. He has a statue in Sighisoara.

How can you write an article such as this and NOT know the facts!!! Your article is so horrible I really can’t start where you have totally screwed up his life. He and the Sultan WERE not blood brothers. The first wrong thing you have done was to portray him as a vampire/monster. He was held prisoner by the sultan and was tortured by the sultan. The sultans son who was the same age as Vlad Dracula also had a hand in his tortures. They tried to coerse Vlad into becoming a puppet ruller for them and they failed. Even after brainwashing him for years. He remained loyal to his country. Vlad Dracul Never gave consent, his sons were taken as hostages. Vlad went with his brother RADU not a sister. You have so many things wrong here I will be writing somthing for each line. Vlad Draculas first reign was in 1448. His second reign was in 1456 on his own with the help of John Hunyadi NOT the sultan. Where is your documents of Alcoholism???? who are you to smear this into your tirade on Vlad. in 1476 he was recognized as Prince again not 1475! and Radu died in Jan 1475 so he could not have killed Dracula. As far as the tortures are concerned, Do you understand what sensationalism is, since you have done it in this article the same way the german pamphlets did to Vlad!!! WITHOUT FACTS!!!